But before we get to the meat of the tutorial, I wanted to share this video–one of my favorites in the Zwift universe. Here you can watch TeamODZ’s Justin Wagner finishing the big Zwift Team Worlds 2017 race. You can hear his interaction with teammates via Discord, making this a perfect example of audio chat bringing the Zwift experience to the next level.

Before You Begin – Hardware Requirements

All you need to get Discord working is the device to run it (your mobile phone or computer), a microphone, and speakers. A standalone phone will do the job, but isn’t ideal due to poor speakers and mic positioning.

The most common setup is earbuds with a built-in mic running to your phone. I don’t like a lot of cords hanging around, so I upgraded my stock iPhone earbuds to a set of Jaybird X3 wireless bluetooth headphones. Love ’em!

Step 1: Install the App

Discord runs on mobile devices as well as Windows and Mac. Installation is simple: just search for “Discord” on your mobile device, or visit https://discordapp.com/ on your computer and click the link to download the app.

Step 2: Create Your Account

Step 3: Enter the Invite Code

Click this link from the device you’ve installed Discord to, or just enter the last part of it manually into Discord in order to join our server: https://discord.gg/DDNqmTh

Congrats, You’re In!

Just click the “Join” button and you’ll be logged into the Zwift Insider Discord server.

Step 4: Here’s the Tricky Part

Discord automatically places you in the text chat channel, which isn’t where you want to be. Click the hamburger menu (3 lines at top-left) to view all the channels on the server. Click “General” under voice channels, then click “Connect to Voice” to join the general voice chat.

You’re All Set!

Once you see yourself on the list of other users in the General Voice channel, you’re all done. As long as you have your microphone and earbuds/speakers hooked up correctly, you’re good to go.

6 Comments

Thanks for the article and I’d like to get setup. Do I need a headset/mic with a ‘Push to Talk’ function? I’m confused as to how standard iPhone earbuds can work as I guess the mic is always ‘live’? (I don’t want to transmit my gasping!)

Just my 2 cents but when someone has issues with ant+ one of the most suggested things is to control if there are BT connections near the trainer. So my suggestion is to go with a pair of wired headset to avoid problems. I know that a lot of zwifter use BT headphones without issues…but i’ve also heard about guys that solved their problems with the usage of wired headphones.

Is it possible to listen to Spotify, and still participate in voice chat? I know Discord has a Spotify API. I wasn’t sure if when I listen to Spotify using my headphones if others could hear too? To clarify does it broadcast through Discord, or does it give me the option to listen while I ride? I like to listen to music during group rides and I don’t want to annoyingly broadcast my music over the Discord voice server to others. I am pretty new to group rides and Discord, I typically ride alone.

I have installed Discord on my PC and have the sound on the monitor speakers. I nicked a USB microphone from my children (they are not using the Guitar Hero game anymore anyhow) and fixed it to a scissor boom lamp. Then I added a bluetooth media button to the handlebar and configured Discord to use the play/pause key for push-to-talk. The media button also has keys for adjusting volume up and down as well as skip forward/backward. The skip forward/backward could probably be configured to handle Discord overlay on top of Zwift, but I have Discord running on my secondary screen.
This setup makes it very convenient to use push-to-talk (and adjust volume) without taking my hands off the handlebar.
If anyone is interested I will be happy to share more details on my setup.

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